Happy Thursday!

Administration
Hello to new reader blairwitchgreen!
Happy birthday to reprobayt!

Elayna's Schedule
Game show, swimming, karate, songs & skits, board games, arts & crafts; a relatively sedate day. Poor little pook got seasick yesterday! The field trip was to Holiday Park in the Everglades, and the airboat ride just did not sit well with her. :( In happier news, she has *lots* of friends at camp, and is going to a birthday party for one of them this weekend. And they'll be in Naples next weekend, so even if Mom finds out I'll be in South Florida, they won't be there to force a visit. I miss my kid, but I really, really hate spending time with my parents, and I'll have Elayna back in just a few weeks...

DragonCon
The time grows near!
[Poll #155213]
If you're going, I'll add you to shadesongcon, where we can plan Con activities. All of my Con planning will be done there; you won't be able to see or participate unless you answer the poll! Otherwise, nearly every post in this journal would be about Con planning, and it'd bore those that aren't going senseless. My only plan so far is my party on Friday night... in our hotel room this year, rather than my house. Too much trouble last year to get hideously ungrateful people out to my house! (Well, not everyone was hideously ungrateful. Just most of 'em.)

This year, I'm offering to buy my sister a plane ticket so she can come out and babysit Elayna. I just can't bring her again... she gets testy because there's not much for her to do, and who can blame her? But then I get testy because she's testy and because I don't get to do anything... so the best solution is to have my sister here. She can take her to the zoo and museums and stuff, and they can have a great time, and I can actually attend panels and help at newbabel and seanhtaylor's table. Which reminds me.... need to get Shayara promotional material printed up and a CafePress store started, and I'd like to do pins or something this year...

Lad, I don't know where ye've been, but I see ye've won first prize!
cid62 started it, I swear. But now there's an LJ community for it - dragoncon_kit, the DragonCon Kilt Inspection Team. We'll be operating throughout the Con, examining and photographing yummy men in kilts, and awarding the coveted blue ribbons.... want to join? Want to make sure we know you'll be wearing your kilt? Join the community!

Blog-A-Thon

Okay, I'm doing it!

July 26th-27th, 2003. 9:00 AM EST- 9:00 AM EST. I will post every half hour. That's right. No sleep. Why am I doing this? To raise money for RAINN, the Rape, Abuse, & Incest National Network. From their site: "The Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network (RAINN) is the nation's largest anti-sexual assault organization. RAINN operates the National Sexual Assault Hotline at 1.800.656.HOPE and carries out programs to prevent sexual assault, help victims and ensure that rapists are brought to justice."

So how does this work?

Sponsor me in the 2003 Blogathon!

You pledge money. I blog. If I make it all the way through, you send money to RAINN.

I think everyone who reads me knows that this is a cause that's close to my heart. It would mean a lot to me if you would sponsor me in this. I'll also try to think up an incentive from me - I'll send you a thank-you card if you sponsor me, but I'll try to think of something else cool I can do for you.

*bounce*

dubheach is addicted to Shayara! She says: "I'm worse than I was at age 6 or so and waiting for the next installment of "Batman". Is there a place I can find more of the story than just the teaser in the (beautifully drawn) website storybook?"

A little bit. There are some snippets at shayara - you have join the community to read them - and also in my Memories section under "Shayara". And also I welcome any questions.

It's just so exciting to me that people actually like my world and want to know more! dubheach, you made my day. :)

My flowers....

Are kinda "just because", but apparently mostly because of my 4,000th journal entry.

Yes. I get flowers for being a prolific blogger.

My life is weird. So's my boyfriend. But I like it that way.

*snicker*

This is awesome. You have to read the whole thing. Thanks, foxmagic!

THE MATRIX RELOADED: THE ABRIDGED SCRIPT™

By Rod Hilton


FADE IN:

EXT. DARK, NOIR-ESQUE CITY STREET

A computer model of CARRIE-ANNE MOSS with an
inhuman-looking face flies out of a window, shoots at an
agent, and is killed.

INT. THE NEBUCHADNEZZAR - BLUE

KEANU REEVES wakes up from his nightmare. CARRIE-ANNE
MOSS, played by a human being, is laying next to him.

KEANU REEVES
Whoa.

CARRIE-ANNE MOSS
What's the matter? Did you wet the
bed again?

KEANU REEVES
I had this dream. You flew out of
a window in slow-motion and shot at
an agent and he killed you.

CARRIE-ANNE MOSS
Well of course you dreamed that -
you've gone online and watched the
Matrix Reloaded trailer like fifty
times in the past two days.

KEANU REEVES
Did you see the computer generated
me fight all those Agent Smiths? It
was awesome! I'm gonna go hack in
and watch it again now.

INT. DARK, NOIR-ESQUE SEWER

LAURENCE FISHBURNE, CARRIE-ANNE MOSS, and KEANU REEVES join
#SewerChat with all the other rebels.

LAURENCE FISHBURNE
Gimme ops! I want ops!

( But wait! There's more! )

up and down

Loss
Someone I care about very much has just had something really horrible happen to her; reading about it, I felt just gut-punched. I love you, honey, and I don't know what I can do, but if there is anything... I want to know. You're in my heart and thoughts, and I wish I could hold you right now...

Blog-A-Thon
riverheart is also participating! Her charity is an organization that rescues abused and neglected animals; details here. If you can afford to sponsor more than one person, sponsor her too! Remember, you can sponsor me here; my charity is RAINN.
[Poll #155303]

Character Interviews?
whitecrow0 has an intersting idea... interviewing your characters. I've done this informally, of course, as a way of determining reasoning, motives... but an Official Interview might be interesting to do.

Planning
Tonight: League of Extraordinary Gentlemen with yendi, karlita, and photognome.
Tomorrow: Lunch with thetuan. Evening undetermined.
Saturday: thetuan's birthday party.
Sunday: Must buy a bathing suit and shorts for next weekend's cruise! Shopping buddies welcome.

Comics vs. Prose

Y'know, every so often I forget that there's this stigma towards comic books. Which I still don't really understand.

Why am I writing Shayara as a comic book rather than as a prose novel? I think that having the words and images in conjunction come closer to my vision for it - this can show you the movie in my mind so much more clearly than words alone. Plus, I get to be more subtle - sneak clues in that you won't get til the second reading. Carry through themes without being heavy-handed about it. Show instead of tell.

When we first see Shawn, he's wearing a faded T-shirt, a little frayed at the collar, jeans, and well-worn Frye boots. He's listening to a state-of-the-art CD walkman, and soon begins to write in a leather-bound journal with a thick, heavy, elegant pen that he removes from his battered JanSport backpack. (Hm. Lee - add a Zildjian patch to the pack.) There's your snapshot.

What's important to Shawn? The music, and the writing. We'll soon find out that the pen and journal were a gift from Jason.
What's not important: Clothing; external appearances.

The walkman's important. He's a musician. The clothes, eh, when they get unwearable he'll buy some more. In comics, I can give you that in one panel. In prose... hard to not make it heavy-handed.

There will come a point at which a certain character takes his turn fully into the Dark Side. If I pull it off, you won't notice his turning point on first read, but when the results become apparent, you will hopefully look back at that panel and say "Holy shit"; it all depends on a facial expression, a reaction, and I don't dare call the attention to it that I'd have to in prose, or it'd ruin it.

There's a subtlety I can play with here. Clues and Easter eggs I can plant. I can have fun with the occupants of the coffeehouse, with the attendees at a concert, the messages on a bulletin board. There's so much more I can do in comics.

DragonCon

Everyone who's answered this poll in the affirmative has been added to shadesongcon. Everyone on my friends list, that is - Some of y'all have friends who answered, but I'm only adding people I know. You can bring friends to the party, but I don't think people who don't read me care that much which B5 panels I'm going to. :) Some of the likelier maybes got added, too, plus some people who won't be attending the Con but would like to attend the party.

Remember to let me know if you're going!